Water softening apparatus



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WATER SOFTENING APPARATUS Filed Sept. '6, 1929 2 sneaks-sheet 1 Dec. 12, 1933.

w. N. McCONKEY WATER SOFTENING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 6. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 uvl ilrlvlllllllllarltrv Patented Dec. 12, 1933 UNITED STATES 1,939,182 WATER SOFTENING APPARATUS- Walter N. McConkey, Lima, Ohio Application September 6, 1929 Serial No. 390,686

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an apparatus for softening water and is particularly applicable to that class of device in which the water is softened by what is known as the chemical process as opposed to the base exchanging process.

The primary objects of the invention are to provide a greatly simplified device of the character specified; to provide a d vice of the character indicated in which the qua tity of chemicals used is directly and automatic y proportioned to the demand for softened watei'; and to provide such a device in which the quantity of chemicals introduced can be varied at will, whereby to accommodate the apparatus to the condition of hardness existing in the water to be treated.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the character specified by means of which a measured quantity of water softening chemical can be mixed with a measured volume of water to be softened, the mixing being automatically controlled by the amount of water which is being drawn from the device.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of this character in which the water can be treated under pressure.

More detail objects of the invention exist in the provision of a tank containing mixing, coagulation and precipitation chambers, together with a chemical pump located preferably on the outside of the main tank and with all of said parts arranged in a novel and improved relation with respect to one another, in accordance with the description of the accompanying drawings hereinafter appearing.

How the foregoing, together with such other objects as may appear hereinafter, or are incident to my invention, are obtained is illustrated in a preferred form in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved apparatus;

Figure 2 is a vertical central section through the apparatus of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale through the mechanism for pumping the chemical;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a partial section similar to that of Figure 3, illustrating a different positionof the parts.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that my improved apparatus includes a main or outside tank 7 in which is located an inner chamber indicated as a whole by the reference character 8, the upper end ofwhich is preferably closed by virtue of the fact that it abuts against the top plate 9 of the casing '7, but the lower end of which is open (see Figure 2), in order to make possible free communication with the interior of the tank 7. The lower end of this chamber 8 is held centrally of the casing 7 by means of the brackets 12.

In the upper portion ofthe inner chamber 8, I locate a series of inclined baffles 10 secured to a central rod 11 which may be fastened near the topof the inner chamber 8 in any desired manner. A horizontal arm 13 at the top of the rod 11 serves to hold the baflle unit in a central position in the chamber 8.

As will be seen upon inspection of Figure 2, the baflies 10 are arranged so that the incoming fluids will be directed backwardly and forwardly across the width of the chamber 8 in the manner indicated by the arrows. The baifles extend from a point near the top 9 approximately half way down, or a little less, into the chamber 8, and this upper portion of the chamber in which the baflies are located is the mixing chamber where the incoming hard water is m xed with the softening chemicals.

The proper mixture of hard water and of chemical is introduced into the mixing chamber through the pipe 14, the hard water coming in through the pipe 15 and the chemical solution through the pipe 16 in a manner to be described below. Thorough mixing of the two, as stated, takes place in the mixing chamber 8a in the upper portion of the chamber 8. The lower portion 81) of the chamber 8 constitutes a coagula: tion chamber where the encrusting solids have a chance to floc after being thoroughly mixed in the mixing chamber. The coagulation chamber discharges at the bottom into the lower portion of the tank 7 which constitutes, in effect, a precipitation chamber 7a, the precipitation chamber, as clearly appears in Figure 2, having a diameter which is substantially greater than the diameter of the chamber 8. I prefer to have the diameter of the precipitation chamber approximately four times the diameter of the coagulation chamber. In this way, the velocity of the flow is sharply reduced so as to permit complete precipitation onto the dished plate 17 in the bottom of the tank 7. The precipitation chamber can be drained through the pipe 18 under the control of the valve 19.

The softened water passes upwardly through the casing 7, around the chamber 8, and is drawn on through the discharge or outlet pipe 20 near the top of the casing.

Secured to the outside of the casing 7 by means of a suitable bracket 21, I provide a water motor 22 of any suitable and well known construction, said motor being mounted upon a base casting 23, which is, in turn, carried by the bracket 21 just mentioned.

The hard water comes in through the pipe 24 under the control of the valve 25, and, after passing through the water motor, it is discharged through the pipe 15 which carries it upwardly to the inlet pipe'14, as previously described.

Mounted at the other end of the base plate 23 is a chemical pump indicated as a whole by the reference character 26, the suction side of the pump being connected by the pipe 27 to the bottom of a chemical supply tank 28, suitably secured in any desired manner to the outside of the casing 7. The pipe 27 projects into the bottom of the tank 28 and the inlet to it is protected by means of the canopy 27a. The discharge side of the chemical pump is connected through the pipe 16 to the inlet pipe 14, as pre-' viously described, and the tank 28 can be provided with a drain pipe 29 under the control of the valve 30.

The chemical tank 28 is provided with a re-' movable cover 31 through which the supply of Softening chemicals can be introduced.

The chemical pump 26 can be of any desired construction, but I prefer to build it as disclosed in detail in Figure 3, to which figure reference will now be had. Within a' cylinder 32 reciprocates the chemical piston 33 which will, during its right hand or suction stroke, draw in a charge of chemical solution through the pipe 27 past the ball check valve 34. On the left hand stroke, the piston 33 will discharge this chemical past the upper ball check valve 35 and through the pipes 16 and 14 into the top of the chamber 8, as already described.

The piston 36 of the water motor is connected to the piston 33 of the chemical pump by means of a slide 37 which reciprocates in a slide support or guide 38 also carried by the base 23.

The slide 37 has an inner slot 39, and the pistons 33 and 36 project inwardly through apertures in each end of the slide 37, so as to be in alignment with each other.

Near the end of the piston 36 is a pin 40 which projects laterally sufficiently far to contact with the end of the slot in the slide 37. The piston 33 carries a similar pin 41 adapted to contact with the other end of the slot in the slide 37.

I prefer to make the pin 41 adjustable by means of a series of holes 42 in the end of the piston 33, as by this means I can vary the length of the suction stroke of the piston 33.

Returning to the chemical pump structure 26, I prefer to make'the check valves 34 and 35 of rubber, and, in order to prevent the flashing which forms at the joint in the mold in which the balls are cast, from contacting with the valve seats, I provide each ball with a metallic pin 43, which pins are arranged to project away from the seats into the pipes 16 and 27; By this means the balls cannot move in service so as to bring the flashing adjacent the valve seats.

The inlet check valve seat 44 is formed in one piece with a flange 45 by means of which it can be bolted in position on the body member 46. The check valve 35 is housed within a removable age 47 which is held in place by means of the flanged bushing 48 adapted to be suitably bolted to the member 48. r

It will be noted that the supporting base plate 23 is a one piece casting, andthat it carries the water motor, the chemical pump and .the guide support 38 for the slide 37. This base casting, by virtue of the fact that it is hollowed out on its upper side, as shown in Figure 3, also acts as a drip pan for the water motor.

Operation of the device is as follows:

. A charge of chemical solution is placed in the chemical tank 28. When water is drawn from the outlet 20 at the upper portion of .the tank 7,.the incoming raw water which enters through the pipe 24. will reciprocate the piston 36 of the water motor 22 in a manner well understood in the art. The stroke of the piston 36, of course, is flxed, and the speed of its reciprocation is directly under the control of the quantity of water being withdrawn through the pipe 20. The construction of such a water motor is well known in the art and need not be specifically illustrated or described, the important point being that the motor for operating the chemical pump is directly under the control of the water passing through the service line.

In the right hand direction of travel, the piston 36 will bring its pin 40 into contact with the right hand end of the slot 39 in the slide 37, whereupon the slide 37 will move with the piston 36 until the left hand end of the slot comes into contact with the pin 41 in the piston rod 33. When this occurs, the piston 36, the slide 37 and the piston 33 are moved as one unit, thus creat-- ing suction in the chemical pump 26 and drawing in a charge of chemical through the pipe 27 into the cylinder in which the piston 33 reciprocates.

In the reverse direction, namely, when the piston 36 travels to the left, no motion of the slide 37 and of the piston 33 will take place in the first instance, but, when the end of the piston 36 comes into contact ,with the end of the piston 33, the discharge stroke of the chemical pump will begin and this stroke will continue until the cylinder of the chemical pump is completely emptied, the ball valve 34 seating on this stroke and the ball valve 35 unseating, in order to permit the chemical to be discharged through the pipe 16 into the pipe 14 and from there into the top of the chamber 8 where the mixing takes place. It will be understood, of course, that the incoming hard water, after passing through the water motor 22, is delivered to the top of the chamber 8 thru the pipes 15 and 14, as previously described. I

If a greater quantity of chemical be needed in proportion to the volume of water passing through the device, all that it is necessary to do is to move the pin 41 to one of the holes 42 further to the left. In this way the end of the slot 39 in the slide 37 will come into contact with the pin 41 at an earlier moment so that the suction stroke of the piston 33 will be longer. On the discharge stroke, however, the piston 33 will travel to the end of the cylinder in which it reciprocates so as tocompletely empty the pump.

It will, therefore, be seen that by my device I am enabled to mix a measured volume of water with a measured volume of softening chemical in the mixing chamber 8a, the volume ofchemical always being in direct proportion to the volume of the water passing through the device. Just as soon as the outlet spigot is closed, thewater motor will, of course, stop func- 15o tioning in a manner well understood in this art, and no further chemical will be delivered to the softener.

What I claim is:

In water softening apparatus of the character described, the combination of a piston motor having a fixed stroke, a piston pump for soften- 

